In the weeks following Turkey’s announcement of additional requirements on importation of all food and feed products containing genetically enhanced components, progress to reverse or amend the stringent requirements has yet to be made. Those involved in the import and use of the products are still waiting for the outcome of a court case filed shortly after the regulations were announced. According to Joe O’Brien, USGC regional director in the Middle East and Subcontinent, feedmillers and livestock producers are said to be running out of feed. Producers anticipate being out of ingredients, especially corn and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), in the next four to six weeks. “Meanwhile, there are vessels near the region that are not able to come into port to deliver essential feed ingredients only available through exports and are circling the area or consigning the cargo into costly bonded facilities, driving up costs,” said O’Brien. As producers are faced with the shortage, prices for alternatives to corn and DDGS have rapidly increased threatening a standstill in the industry. Local feedmillers are banding together to present their case to the government officials, commissioning their own scientific research in order to counter the claims that have been made. At this critical time for U.S. feed grains in Turkey, the Council conducted a DDGS Road Show in the region, focusing not only on the promotion and usage of U.S. feed ingredients, but also offering an education on genetically enhanced products. As Council staff and consultants met with the end-users, they were met with unease and desperation. O’Brien said, “Many of the Turkish industry representatives wanted to know what action the United States was going to take and when. We pointed out that measures would have to come from the Turkish industry itself, working with the government to inject basic science and common sense into negotiations to reopen markets to these vitally needed commodities.”

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